National Basketball Association
Duke 97, Syracuse 72
When: 6:00 PM ET, Saturday, February 26, 2022
Where: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York
Officials:
# Tim Clougherty, # John Gaffney, # Bert Smith
Attendance:
31803
By Field Level Media
Mark Williams scored a career-high 28 points on 11-of-14 shooting and Paolo Banchero and A.J. Griffin lit it up from beyond the arc as No. 7 Duke dominated host Syracuse 97-72 on Saturday evening.
In the final regular-season matchup between Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim -- the two winningest coaches in Division I history -- the Blue Devils stormed out of the gates and never looked back. Krzyzewski, who is retiring at season's end, improved to 12-5 all-time against Boeheim.
Banchero made 4-of-7 3-pointers en route to 21 points and also dished out nine assists, while Griffin shot 6 of 10 from long distance and scored 20 points. Williams grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked three shots for the first-place Blue Devils (25-4, 15-3 ACC), who lead Notre Dame by one game in the ACC standings with two games remaining.
The Orange (15-14, 9-9) were led by 23 points from Buddy Boeheim and 18 from Joe Girard III. Freshman Benny Williams chipped in a career-best 14 points off the Syracuse bench.
Griffin made a 3-pointer on the game's opening possession, and the rout was on. Banchero had a dunk and Williams dunked twice to push the lead to 9-0, and then two free throws by Banchero and a three-point play by Williams made it 14-0 just 4:18 into the contest.
Duke made seven of its first eight 3-pointers with the final one by Jeremy Roach creating a 34-13 advantage. Banchero knocked down his fourth triple of the game to expand the cushion to 48-18 with 5:05 to play until halftime.
The Orange closed the half with a 16-3 run, highlighted by Buddy Boeheim's 10 points, to get within 51-34 at the break.
The Blue Devils still led by 17 early in the second half when a quick 7-2 burst -- punctuated by Griffin's 3-pointer -- created a 22-point margin. Syracuse got no closer than 16 points down the stretch en route to its second straight loss following a stretch of six wins in seven games.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Duke |
|
Syracuse |
Mark Williams 28 |
Scoring |
Buddy Boeheim 23 |
Paolo Banchero 9 |
Assists |
Buddy Boeheim 3 |
Mark Williams 12 |
Rebounds |
Benny Wlliams 6 |
Mark Williams 6 |
Free Throws Made |
Benny Wlliams 4 |
Wendell Moore Jr. 1 |
Steals |
Buddy Boeheim 3 |
Mark Williams 3 |
Blocks |
Bourama Sidibe 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Duke
|
97 |
53.8 |
15-32 |
12-17 |
26 |
32 |
5 |
1 |
6 |
Syracuse
|
72 |
49.2 |
5-18 |
9-10 |
13 |
18 |
1 |
4 |
7 |